INTRO
Many of my clients have, unfortunately, initiated the design of their own kitchen without an understanding of the extent of what is really involved in the process, in terms of design, budget, timeline and other problems. In these cases, our design process together, was frustrating with the client and for me. As a result, this article will clarify the process it means that you have the opportunity to become better informed before you begin your kitchen venture, thereby avoiding uninformed decisions or possibly spending time and/or cash needlessly.
This article is not about the specific design features of your current kitchen and how to design it. There are many good resources readily available for that. Instead, it is about the process of designing your your kitchen. It is meant to help in getting a head start and to reveal anyone who is, or might be, embarking upon the design of a new or maybe remodeled kitchen, to the first and most important step -- Planning.
Designing a kitchen for a new or current home is a big investment in time, money and power and it is sometimes stressful and challenging. Unfortunately, some suppliers and TV programs don't like to dwell on this element and therefore mislead the consumer regarding the actual amount of time and effort that's needed is. Even though creating a new kitchen is challenging, most customers say that the results are more than worth the effort. I hope that this information provided herein will be a helpful contribution toward getting you to well on your way to a successful project.
Before you begin the process of designing your brand-new kitchen, you will need to set the criteria for the design. I recommend that you just engage a professional kitchen designer that not only designs the very cabinet layout, but designs every element of the kitchen and it is involved throughout the entire project, so that the final result will be a natural design that reflects optimum function and style. The designer is not going to help you create a beautiful, efficient, kitchen but will save you significant time, money and other resources and you will both have fun developing your joint creation. I actually trust that what follows will get your energy flowing and ideas racing, in preparation for actually embarking upon your trip. And, it "is" a journey!
THE KITCHEN OF TODAY
Your kitchen has traditionally been the most important room in the house because food preparation and sharing food has long been central to family living. Meals will always be important, but cooking has, in some cases, considerably changed. The grocery industry has focused on replacements with regard to home meals and hundreds of restaurants have incorporated "to-go" in their business model. Whether we cook frequently or not, kitchen areas remain the foundation of family life because it is where all of us live and gather. It is where most of us start and even end our days and share the information of our time.
Today's kitchens serve more roles than ever before: entertainment middle, home office, cooking and dining space. The electronics to have an entertainment center may include TV, music and internet connection plus the office area may have a desk, files, computer together with bookshelves.
THE FIRST STEPS
Determine with your family, who utilizes your current kitchen and how, and discuss the conveniences you want to have in the new version. Make a scrapbook of content articles and notes on kitchens and kitchen features which interest you and photographs of kitchens you like. Evaluate exactly how and when you cook, where you serve meals to whom and just how often you entertain and how you entertain. Inventory your own personal dishes, silverware, serving pieces, cookware, linens, and your common grocery storage requirements so that you can be sure that the new design fits everything.
It seems that no matter how much time you budget for a remodeling undertaking, it usually takes longer than you expected. For a complete redesign, the down time during construction can be at least two or three a few months and much longer, depending upon the size and extent of the assignment. Your family needs to eat in the meantime. So , before construction begins make arrangements to store, heat and clean up, enough to keep a person going until the kitchen is back on-line. Many of the clients who have had the good fortune to have a bar kitchen sink in the family room, have moved in the old refrigerator and microwave near the bar sink and this combination becomes the main interim kitchen during construction of the new one. The actual upside to this is that it provides a great rationale for eating at restaurants more often!
THE KITCHEN FOOTPRINT
Let's start with the space you have available for those kitchen. Whether you are designing for a new home, or redesigning in an existing one, you are limited by how much space available to you in which to create your dream. If the space is fairly small , and you will want to consider whether or not you have the option of expanding. You may be in a position to accomplish this in your existing home and, in a new house, very often you still have time to alter the architectural plan, if required. In either case, if you can eliminate or relocate a wall as well as walls or add to the house to create more space for the kitchen's, it will improve the function and value of the room significantly.
Naturally , if you don't create an addition to the house, and just get rid of or relocate a wall(s), you then have infringed on a contiguous space and decreased its size, which means you have to weigh which option is the best for you. Is it really worth giving up the other space to increase the size of the kitchen? In my experience, if you possibly could do without the adjoining space, it is much better to commit that extra space to the kitchen.
When you plan to take away or relocate a wall(s), the key factor to determine will be, by so doing, will you encounter a load-bearing scenario? This occurs when the wall(s) is part of the support system in the structure of the house. Usually a contractor can determine this particular. If the contractor is uncertain, you will need to have a structural professional examine the structure to make that determination. If it is no load-bearing, when you are ready to start construction, the contractor may proceed to build out the space per the new plan. When it is a load-bearing issue, your local building authority will require you retain a structural engineer or an architect to develop a structural solution for removing or relocating the wall(s).
He or she will submit design drawings and computations of the solution, to the building authority for approval and enable. Upon receiving the permit, when you are ready to begin construction, the actual contractor can then proceed to build-out the structure per the particular engineer's or architect's specifications. This is the process in Ca, based upon the state building standards, Title 24. The process inside the other states is very similar.
In any case, once you have made the decision of whether not really to expand or re-configure, you will know the size and form (footprint) of the space that you have available from a horizontal perspective - Plan View.
VERTICAL SPACE
You should also consider what shape and size the room will be from a vertical standpoint as well. If it is feasible to increase the height of the room by raising, eliminating or simply altering an existing low ceiling or soffit, you should you should think about taking advantage of this option. The additional height will provide more cabinet storage space from the increased height of wall cabinets and the area will become more voluminous which is always more visually amazing and comfortable. From a construction standpoint, the load-bearing issues will certainly apply to increasing the room height just as it applies to relocating or eliminating walls.
Of course , in dealing with all of these design as well as construction issues and decisions that need to be made, you will not be by yourself. Your designer will be the pivotal person who will help you evaluate the options you have available. He or she will produce drawings in order to visually show these options and will offer advice on which options are greatest and why.
I understand that this all sounds very tiresome and problematic. In some sense these two words are a good explanation of the design/construction process. However , what I have outlined over is done thousands of times every day and most of those homeowners have got survived and, as a result, now have the new, beautiful, functional, the kitchen area of their dreams. You notice I said "most"! Seriously, typically the project will be challenging and there will be some problems. This really is just the nature of design and construction and that is why you ought not proceed without experienced professional help throughout the process from the start to the end.
UTILIZING YOUR KITCHEN
Are you an expert cook, who does it all: cooking, baking, barbecuing, or are you a minimum cook whose main goal is to just get a meal on the table for the family as expeditiously as possible, or are you somewhere between? Do you always cook by yourself or do you often have family and friends assist with the cooking? Do you often entertain and all flow in to the kitchen while munching on your Brie between sips associated with chardonnay? Do you bake often and want a marble surface area for that purpose? The questions can go on and on.
A few clients have large, prestigious, homes and entertain regularly and/or have large families. They may have someone the actual cooking for them. Some of these types of projects may need the full therapy, such as a butler's pantry or walk-in pantry, two island destinations, two refrigerators, two dishwashers, two microwave ovens, some sort of wine cooler, a separate beverage cooler, a built-in espresso device, sink, prep-sink and bar sink and glass-door units to display the family heirloom china, etc .
Most clients need something substantially less than all of this, but I bring it up simply to emphasize that how you utilize your kitchen has a solid influence on the design and therefore, as I mentioned, you should consider how you want to operate and what you want to accommodate in your kitchen. You can start to think about what type of appliances and features you would like. Think about the three major work areas of a kitchen: Food Preparation (refrigerator and sink), Cooking (cook top, oven and also microwave) and Cleanup (sink, dishwasher and recycling). You will discover a myriad of styles and options available which you and your designer will have to carefully consider. More planning, of course!
HOW & YOU CHOOSE TO EAT
You may prefer to be able to eat in the kitchen by having an isle with seating. The size of the island that the room will allow for will determine how many persons you can seat. Seating at an tropical island reduces the storage space available in the island, so the balance from the kitchen storage will need to absorb this loss. You can essentially sit at three counter heights: chair height (29-30"), countertop height (36") and bar height (42").
If you have a good adjacent breakfast room, you may want to eat there in the interest of getting more storage space in the island. If the room will provide it, you may like the idea of a built-in booth in the morning meal room or kitchen, in lieu of a typical table and seats. Many clients like to have the option of eating in both the breakfast every day room and at the island in the kitchen. In some cases there is no breakfast place and the dining room serves as both breakfast room and dining area. In any case, you should give these and other possibilities careful consideration.
THE STYLE STYLE
There are many design motifs available to you: Traditional, Modern, Modern, Country, Craftsman, Cape Cod, etc . The design motif for you to select will obviously heavily influence the selection of all of the some other elements in the kitchen. The cabinet style and finish have the most powerful influence on the design style of the kitchen. As I mentioned, you can begin by collecting magazine photos of kitchens to get a really feel for what you do and don't like. They will give you great delete word all things kitchen. Stock, semi-custom or custom cabinets get many different styles and finishes to offer and of course, custom cabinetry can provide any design and finish.
REMAINING ISSUES
The planning procedure will continue until every aspect of the total kitchen design is usually selected and specified. However , once you have established your presence and vertical space, how you want to utilize your kitchen area, how and where you want to eat, and your design motif, you are over fifty percent way there. The planning process continues, on a smaller range, as you are making more decisions about all of the items along with issues that make up a total lowes kitchen sinks.
Examples: Do you frequently make spaghetti and pasta, which requires filling a big pot with about four to six quarts of water? In that case, you should have a pot-filler over the cook top or variety top. Since there are only two of you and it takes a long time in order to fill up the dishwasher before you can wash the dishes, you should consider a new two drawer dishwasher which enables you to wash one cabinet at a time, thereby saving energy and providing you with clean meals more often. Do you prefer an air switch in the countertop for your disposal or do you want the switch to be on the back splash? Do you want a garbage disposal in the prep sink along with the main sink? Do you want soft close on your cabinet compartments? Do you like the idea of pendant lighting above the island? Do you want your filtered water system? The questions go on and on!
The different categories you will be encountering in designing your new kitchen tend to be as follows. This listing of categories will give you an idea of what exactly is to come. I didn't say it was easy!
APPLIANCES, CUPBOARDS, HARDWARE, FLOORING, PLUMBING, COUNTERTOP, BACKSPLASH, LIGHTING/ELECTRICAL, WALL COMPLETE, FURNITURE, WINDOW TREATMENTS, ART WORK, ACCESSORIES AND CONSTRUCTION.
CONCLUSION
My spouse and i trust that by reading this article, you now have an gratitude of how important careful planning is to the successful type of your kitchen. The more thought and quality time you spend on it, the better prepared you will be when you begin with your designer along with the process will become easier and more efficient, which everyone included will greatly appreciate.
Once you have made most of these macro-decisions which i have mentioned, you will be ready to tackle the micro-decisions which are coming next. As you can see by the examples I have mentioned as well as listing of categories above, you have a lot more planning to do, keep in mind you are now over half way there. Be good and resolute and I am sure that you will get through the entire process practically unscathed. And, if you are thoughtful, organized and work from the spirit of mutual cooperation, you will probably have some fun too! Keep in mind that not all of this is on your shoulders. Your professional developer will be by your side for the whole trip.